Liquid crystal display (LCD) panels include, e.g., a thin film transistor (TFT) substrate, a color filter (CF) substrate positioned so as to face the TFT substrate, a liquid crystal layer provided between the TFT substrate and the CF substrate, and a sealant provided in a frame shape to bond the TFT substrate to the CF substrate and to enclose the liquid crystal layer between the TFT substrate and the CF substrate, and a display region for displaying an image is defined inside the sealant.
Recently, in LCD panels for mobile devices such as mobile phones, mobile information terminals, and mobile game machines, there is a growing demand to reduce the width of a frame region that is defined around the display region. Thus, in a proposed manufacturing technology of such LCD panels for mobile devices, a pair of glass substrates that form an LCD panel are broken on a sealant to reduce the width that is occupied by the sealant, thereby reducing the frame width.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a method of manufacturing an LCD element, which includes the steps of: applying a sealant to at least one of a pair of glass substrates; superposing the pair of glass substrates together, and curing the sealant to bond the pair of glass substrates together with a gap therebetween; scribing a surface of the pair of glass substrates substantially along the center line of the cured sealant, and then heating the pair of glass substrates in an oven; and hitting or pressing the scribed surface of the pair of glass substrates to break the glass substrates so that the sealant is located so as to be exposed at the glass edges. Patent Document 1 describes that this manufacturing method can reduce the dead space around the sealant.